


Missing you

by Mousekins



Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Lucas is a good friend, Ness is kind of a Mess, Not a ship fic, T rated because of a couple curse words, This was almost a ship fic, You can almost feel how bad I wanted them to be a relationship, friendship fic, good friends supporting each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-03 21:20:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19472431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mousekins/pseuds/Mousekins
Summary: Ness and Young had become fast friends, only for Young to not be present in the next tournaments, and though Ness shouldn't be so upset that his friend is gone.He can't help but miss Young.





	Missing you

Ness only had a couple of friends on the Smash roster. One of which was Young Link. It hadn’t always been that way, he had been the only kid on the roster for a long time beforehand. He at least has fond memories of their first meeting, the boy seemed stoic and focused, and it reminded Ness a little too much of Jeff. Blonde hair? Check, eternally focused look? Check, the need to be left as undisturbed as possible? Well, he’d said hello to young Link, and the boy had lit up like Christmas. So no checks there.    
  


He wasn’t a particularly talkative kid, he’d chime in every now and then to answer questions, but he had an unmistakable charisma to him. All of the Links did, but young Link had something else. He had the spirit of a Kokiri child, and when Ness had asked him what on Mother Earth that meant, he tapped the side of his nose and grinned at him.    
  


Ness had later learned that the Kokiri spirit was mischievous. Young Link’s semi-stoic nature meant he was capable of pulling pranks and could get away with it. Ness had quickly learned to either be a part of those plans or be subjected to their ends, especially when he’d found that young Link had swapped his salt for sugar, and swapped his milk for a different percent skim. It was relatively harmless stuff, young Link would never prank somebody to the degree it wouldn’t be funny.    
  


That being said, Young Link had the same heart of gold as his adult self, and he recalls the adult version being excited over seeing his kid self get into the roster. He remembers his own happiness at no longer being the only kid, and the Ice Climbers had joined in on the celebration too. Needless to say, they’d all become fast friends. Young Link and Popo hit off their connection near immediately, their mischief often got them into trouble, and Ness and Nana found themselves bailing the pair of them out.   
  


Of course, Nana and Popo only looked young, but in comparison to the other adults on the roster, they were practically children themselves. Young Link’s first ever season in smash was a blast, and Ness found himself enjoying the company of his new friend a little too much.    
  


Sometimes there’d be somber moments, occasions where young Link would tell him of his adventures in Hyrule, and then in Termina, his short-lived friendships with the fae and the friends he’d lost along the way. They’re sobering in a sense, they make Ness reflect on his own journey that had an almost playful note. It’s a stark contrast from Link’s own, where he had to save the world from a falling moon with a giant face, but their nightmares are similar enough to be comforting.   
  


They both dream of faces, of transformations, and of loss of humanity. Young Link tells him that Zelda had sent him back to ‘his own time’, with her ocarina, to live out his youth once more, but he felt he didn’t quite belong with the kokiri any more, and it had been his only home for so long that living amongst Hylians felt wrong. Young Link chuckles and tells Ness that he’d debated living on the ranch with Malon, a farm girl he had helped, and eventually settled on finding his old friend.   
  


Ness asks him if he ever found closure for her, and Link shakes his head.    
  


“In a way, I think it’s better like that,” He’d said, before smiling widely despite himself, and offering a hand up. “Besides, Zelda told me to regain my lost time as a child, so here I am, doing exactly that.” It’s then that he hears the gentle choking of somebody spitting out coffee, and young Link’s faint smirk has his stomach doing flips with giddiness.   
  


“You replaced the coffee creamer?” Ness took Links hand, and the other had laughed.   
  


“Yep! With flour, but don’t tell anyone. You’d think they’d notice because it makes things more viscous.” Link had grinned, and Ness remembers the joy in his eyes as they ran away from the canteen. Samus Aran hot on their tails and a worried adult Link and Zelda following them in an attempt to mediate.   
  


Ness’s heart drops when he remembers young Link saying farewell. They’d had hopes for each other’s returns in the new season, Ness had tried everything he could to get young Link back onto the roster. The blonde had merely laughed it off and told him that he’d be fine, as somebody who was just as skilled as he is, was going to take his place. Ness didn’t care about the skill of the person.   
  


He just wanted his friend back.   
  


Lucas had managed to inject himself into his life in the meantime, and Ness felt bad for dumping his emotional problems on the boy. He’d already seemed like he was barely holding it together himself, and to hear about how bad he missed his  _ actual _ friend must genuinely suck. So he treats Lucas to a day out, and another part of him realises that Lucas is probably only being his friend out of politeness.   
  


It was then that he’d met Toon. He didn’t dislike Toon, he loved his carefree attitude and his maturity, he was vocal and friendly, the rest of the roster got along with him, but for some reason he couldn’t stop his anger from shining through. It was like Giygas had overtaken his body, his rage boils over, and he can’t explain just why he’s so angry over it. He almost yells out when a hand slaps itself over his mouth, reducing his yell into a surprised yelp, and Lucas drags him back to his dorm and shuts the door.   
  


“Would you get yourself together?!” Lucas’s voice startles him out of his shock. “You miss your friend, I know, but that’s no reason to let your emotions get the better of you, Ness.” He’s expecting Lucas to be yelling at him, but his voice just sounds calm and disappointed. He feels his heart sink into his stomach, and he can’t answer Lucas back, he can’t give Lucas a reason why he’s so mad. He feels pathetic when the tears prickle at his eyes, like a child who got caught stealing cookies, and as he buries his face into his hands, he feels the firm hold of the other around him.   
  


“I know it hurts, Ness.” Is all Lucas says, and he sobs into the familiar stripes of his friend.    
  


Since that moment, Toon had been spending a lot more time around him in an attempt to fill a void he’d never fit. Ness knows it’s cruel of him to say that, but Toon lacked the same spark that young Link had. They were both lazy, both playful, both had their adventures and traumas, but they weren’t the same person. In a way, Toon thanks him for seeing him as a different person to the other Links, as some of the roster see him as a mere clone, and he hates that. Lucas muses that people say the same of him and Ness, and though they laugh it off, there’s a pain in Lucas’s voice that he can’t stop playing in his head.   
  


Lucas knows that no matter how different their move sets may be, how different they are in looks, he’ll always be a clone. Their moves are too close, their smashes are the same, and they’re from the same franchise. There’d be no amount of comparison videos that would set them apart enough for him to never be a clone, and it hurts. Ness wishes he could sympathise with Lucas’s struggles, but Lucas tells him not to worry about it too much.   
  


He can handle himself.   
  


The next season sees the Ice Climbers leaving, too. Ness didn’t think his heart could break any further with three of his best friends gone, and yet somehow life had found a way. Once Nana and Popo had left, another new face had cropped up. He was known as the Villager, a friendly fellow with big eyes and a soft smile.    
  


Ness hid in his room and tried not to think of how nice Lucas’s arms feel around him when he squeezes him tight.    
  


“Two…” is all Ness can manage to say to Lucas, and the blond hushes him softly and holds him tight. “First Link, and now Nana and Popo. I don’t want to lose any more of my friends, I want them back, I…. I want to see them all again.”    
  


“You will. They’re not gone forever, they haven’t _died_ _,_ Ness.” Lucas’s smile is warm, and he feels his heart raise from his stomach. There’s hope in his blue eyes, and Ness hates how similar it is to young Link’s own expression. Lucas grabs his hand, and Ness squeezes it in affirmation.   
  


“It’s going to be a long season.” Ness says.   
  


And it is.   
  


The time had dragged on the longer he saw Villager and Toon hanging around together, their dynamic was scarily similar to his own with young Link, and he’s starting to fear that maybe this was Master Hand’s plan. To eventually replace him on the roster with Lucas. He wouldn’t be surprised if it happened, and if anything it was the next logical step. To replace the original twelve with newer versions of more popular franchises. Maybe he’d fade into obscurity.   
  


Villager approaches him later, and Ness finds himself taking a step back. There’s a look in Villager’s eyes that strikes fear into his gut, and though his instinct is to run away, his feet are cemented in place. Slowly, the villager takes him by his wrist, and leads him outside. He’s half expecting the other to kill him in private, his heartbeat won’t stop crashing into his rib cage, and Villager’s grip only tightens when he tries to tug his arm back.   
  


They round a corner and into a garden. Villager lets go of him to hand him a shovel, and Ness feels the colour drain from his face. Maybe villager wanted him to bury a body he’d already killed? It was a stark possibility, it was a real possibility--Villager taps his arm and hands him another thing--   
  


A sapling?   
  


A note appears in mid air, Villagers expression morphing into one of joy as Ness acknowledges the small tree in his hand. He then pokes the rich soil with a stick, and motions for Ness to interact with the dirt himself. He wants him to plant the sapling? Well, it’s not what he’d expected to do this afternoon, but it’s something.    
  


His nerves calm as he starts to dig into the dirt, the hole probably wouldn’t have needed a shovel if it weren’t for how hard the soil was underneath the soft soil above it. He almost expects a skulltula to jump out at him, and he’s thankful when one doesn’t. Ness feels a smile tickle the corners of his lips at the memory Link had shared with him, of his adventures with soft soil and freeing an unfortunate family from a curse.   
  


Tenderly, he places the sapling into the hole, and pats the dirt around it. Villager sprinkles it with some water, smiles at him widely, and hands him a seed packet.    
  


Ness spends the rest of his afternoon gardening with Villager, and though he remained upset over the loss of his friends, Villager had made an amicable attempt at filling the hole in his chest. Dirt was no substitute for young Link or the Ice Climbers, and Toon had been trying his best for weeks to keep them on good terms.   
  


“Maybe you should move on.” Lucas suggests to him, and Ness is about to shut the idea down when Lucas interrupts his first syllable. “You’re hurting over them, you’re letting your past friends get in the way of making new ones. If they come back then they will, and if they don’t, you shouldn’t close yourself off to others.”   
  


Sometimes Ness hates how Lucas can sound like his mom, and as if he read that thought, he places a mock kiss on his forehead.    
  


Ness yells that he’s lucky Villager took his shovel back, and Lucas cackles his way into the bathroom to get ready for bed. He’s glad that he’d ran off so quickly, because the blush covering his face was threatening to eat him alive. He pulls the covers of his bed over his head and sighs into the darkness, a strange loneliness eating away at his insides. Ness knows that Lucas means well, and he hates that his mood can switch so freely.   
  


A pressure on his bed causes him to yelp, and Lucas’s laughter calms his heart down. He peeks out from under his covers. Lucas’s hand softly tousles his hair, and there’s a fond look in his eyes as he does it. Before Ness can ask him what’s up, he grins and walks over to his own bed.   
  


He’s not sure if he should invade Lucas’s space when he hears the hiccupings of barely-contained sobs.    
  


Fuck it. He’s got nothing to lose.   
  


Ness pads his way over to Lucas’s bed, and with the tenderness of his own mother, he calls out for the other. Lucas pushes him away for a moment, a fearful yell sounding out until he focuses on his silhouette, and Ness practically tackle hugs the blonde to the bed. The bed creaks under the sudden added weight, and he squeezes Lucas tight to his chest.    
  


Lucas sobs into him, his fingers dig into his back, but Ness figures it’s worth the pain if it makes his friend feel better. Psychic energy prickles against his back, triggering a link he wasn’t aware of to suddenly open. The floodgates of Lucas’s feelings pour out into him, the waves of sadness crashing into melancholic shores, the blotted out sunlight, the grief-riddled sands, and his tightening throat.   
  


“Weren’t you the one to tell me to move on..?” He humours after a moment, and he’s surprised to hear a humourless laugh from Lucas. It’s so monotonous and dead that if it wasn’t so close, he’d have been hunting for an intruder in their shared room. The blond looks at him, puffy eyed in the dim glow of a moon lit room, and he shakes his head.   
  


_ “ I miss my brother." _   
  


The croaked words are all Ness needs to cuddle Lucas closer and cradle him until he sleeps.   
  


They don’t talk about it the next morning. Lucas is soundly sleeping in his arms when awakens, and Ness slips himself away to wash his face and brush his teeth. He debates on getting into the shower proper before he has his breakfast, and decides to do just that. It would be a while before Lucas woke up anyway. Lucas wakes up at 12 o’clock sharp, just as Ness is crunching down on his cereal, and bleary-eyed and messy-haired, he pours himself a bowl and haphazardly munches on it.   
  


Ness has to stifle a laugh as Lucas, in his drowsy stupor, almost misses his mouth and smears chocolate milk all down his pyjama shirt. Lucas shoots him a look, though his eyes are still red around the edges, Ness ultimately decides to not bring up last night. The blond looked like he was about ready to curl back up into bed, but with a gentle (and motivating, if he does say so himself) kick to his shin, Lucas figures it’d be better to look presentable.   
  


Apparently Villager and Toon wanted him to tag along, the new rosters were going to be out, and Villager was going to help decorate the rooms of the newcomers. Lucas expresses that he has no idea why the pair of them want him there, but he’d hate to disappoint them.    
  


Ness feels his heart clench.    
  


“I don’t want to be alone.” He admits as Lucas grabs some fresh clothes to put on after his shower.   
  


“So come with me.” Lucas’s reply is so simple, like that’s the exact reason he’d mentioned it in the first place, and Ness finds himself smiling. He’d been kind of a jerk to Toon recently, and it wasn’t either of their faults that his friends had been taken off the roster. He shouldn’t harbour his anger over them, especially when it was Master Hand that determined who stayed or not.   
  


So he goes.   
  


Surprisingly, he doesn’t regret a thing.   
  


Villager seemed to be having more fun trapping Toon into corners than he did doing any actual decorating, and Toon’s indigent yelling at Villager to ‘LET ME OUT ALREADY’ had him in side-splitting laughter. Toon pouts at him and tells him that he’s glad at least one of them is having fun, and throws his clipboard at Villager, who promptly pockets it from mid-air and shrugs.   
  


Ness is pretty sure he’s never seen Toon so red with anger, but a soft shoulder-pat from Lucas deflates him practically instantly. Toon’s never been confrontational, he’ll step aside and let people work out their differences, he won’t let himself be walked all over, but Ness can see where his morals lie. Villager gently hands him the clipboard back, and Villager ticks off a few things as the brunet twists a piece of furniture around, taps his foot, and pockets it to replace it with something else.   
  


By the time they get to the last room of the day, Villager and Toon have a notable anxiety around them. Lucas isn’t oblivious to the tension, but he says nothing out of respect. Ness wants to ask them why they’re so tense, but by the time he can ask them, they’re already in a blank room.    
  


Villager sighs and promptly gets to work, flashing Ness a look every so often as he places down an oak bed with white covers, a round table, puts up some curtains, and opens the window. He then places some more idle things around, a chest, a very simple sink, a food table, a haystack (which earns a confused noise from him, but Lucas grins at the familiarity), and some pitchforks. Toon hums at the arrangement, and then Villager looks at him expectantly.   
  


Ness isn’t sure how Villager wants him to react, and upon seeing no reaction, Villager makes a noise, shakes his head, and ushers them out so he can perfect the room alone. Apparently there’s too many items inside for him to move things around efficiently with so many people, and though Toon was about to protest, a half-glare from Villager is enough to make him leave.   
  


“Villager’s  _ terrifying _ ,” Toon says to him, later, and Ness is thankful that all the bitterness inside of him had left. Toon no longer makes him angry, and though there’s a sadness that remains in its place, he tries not to show it much as he replies.   
  


“He’s even meaner on the battlefield. One minute you’re getting knocked off stage by his fifteen fairs and then the second you’re either being spiked with turnips or he’s pocketed my recovery,” okay, so maybe the ‘don’t show your emotions’ bit didn’t work out, but can anyone blame him? He’s bitter about it, still.   
  


“Lucas told me he liked to pocket your recoveries, but my recovery is always low… so I either get a bowling ball to the head or he turnip spikes me too,” Toon groans, loudly. “If I’m especially unlucky he’ll just fair me until I die from the blast zone.” Ness hates how badly he relates to that, and if Lucas were here, he’d be seething for the same reason.   
  


“If it makes you feel any better…” Ness laughs under his breath. “Sometimes he’ll know where I’m going to land after a PK Rocket, and he’ll grow a tree there...”    
  


Toon gasps in horror.   
  


“Him and the missus Villager call it a one-two-tree.”    
  


Toon Link’s frown could not go any lower. At least they both disliked fighting Villager, and Lucas had claimed that he was starting to get the hang of fighting him. They all still talk about how awful tether grabs are, and how it isn’t fair that Villager gets a slingshot, a big grab, and the ability to basically fly.    
  


Needless to say, that evening when Ness had managed to pop Villagers balloons with a well-timed PK Thunder, him and Toon were in ecstatics for the two seconds it took for Villager to oppress them to the side of the stage and spike them into the blast zone. Lucas had looked horrified, despite being on Villager’s team, and they all came out of it laughing anyway.   
  


Toon’s pride had been hurt, but Ness figures he’s starting to like his new band of friends.   
  


The week before the new season had started was always the worst week of the year. Everyone was panicking to fit in some practice before tournaments, newcomers would be introduced, and there was the potential for oldcomers to be replaced. According to Mario’s joyful announcement, nobody would be retiring for this season. He’d been especially delighted to note that there’d be only newcomers joining, and even happier to say that they’d be seeing entirely fresh faces.   
  


Ness couldn’t quite hide his excitement, and he thinks that it was rubbing off on Toon, Villager and Lucas. The trio seemed so much more energetic when they’re around him, Villager was whispering to Lucas with increased speed, Lucas was smiling a little more, and Toon looked like even the return of his timeline’s Ganondorf couldn’t squash his spirits.   
  


Two days later Lucas pulls him to the side, grinning from ear to ear, and after the fifth hallway they’ve gone down, Ness tugs back.   
  


“Wait wait--” He starts, only for Lucas to hush him as they head down their, presumably, last hallway.   
  


“We’ve noticed you were in good spirits after the news, and…” Lucas’s psi is fizzling their air between them, his own excitement literally palpable. “Well, the newcomers arrived the other day, and as they were getting prepared I noticed something.” Before he can continue though, Lucas pushes him towards a familiar door and waves him goodbye.   
  


He yells to ask why he’s here, but Lucas simply tells him he’ll figure it out, and runs off.   
  


So there he is. Standing before the door, with no idea of what to do about it. He supposes he should knock, he should do literally anything to interact with the object in front of him. No problems here.   
  


He raises his fist and raps on the door three times.    
  


A familiar voice yells ‘One second!’, and Ness feels his heart cease in his chest. No. No way. He lightly slaps his face to confirm he’s absolutely, one-hundred percent, not dreaming. The door opens, and his breath catches in his throat as the face goes from curious to absolutely beaming.   
  


Young Link is back.    
  


Ness can’t control himself, and the next thing he knows he’s tackled the forest boy to the floor and his laugh-crying so hard into his shirt his throat goes croaky. Young Link squeezes him tight and shushes him softly, and he finds himself thinking back to how Lucas did the exact same thing when Link had left all those years ago.   
  


“L-Lin-k? I--issat you?” Ness puts his hands on Link’s cheeks, and the boy grins at him like he’d never left.   
  


“The one and only.” Is his reply. Ness’s heart swells in his chest, and his arms wrap around Link’s shoulders. They stay there on the floor for far too long before young Link picks Ness up with him and shuts his door. He carries Ness all the way over to his bed, and Ness feels fifteen kinds of stupid when he recognises the decor.   
  


The oak bed with the white sheets, Villager watching him carefully for his reaction, and it occurs to him that he’d never actually been in Link’s room before now.    
  


Young Link flops them onto their side, and laughs.   
  


“Missed me that much, huh?” The familiar snark is welcomed.   
  


“Of course I did! You’re my best friend! How could I  _ not _ have missed you?” Ness replies, his lips curling into a frown as he sits up and crosses his legs. Link mirrors the action and nods understandingly.   
  


“I missed you too,” Link starts. “I had this ache in my chest I couldn’t get rid of the whole time I was home, and I thought it was weird because I was home again.” He scratches his cheek, a little sheepish, pink tinting at his cheeks.    
  


Ness lightly punches Link in the arm, to which Link wrestles him back onto the bed and noogies his hair when his cap falls onto the floor. They laugh in each other’s presence, wrestling around with each other, falling off of the bed, momentarily worrying for the other’s safety, before going right back into roughhousing.    
  


To say he missed this is an understatement.   
  


They come down from a particularly infectious set of giggles, and Ness tells Link all of the adventures, tournaments and people that he’d missed out on. Link’s eyes sparkle at the mention of Villager and Toon, he doesn’t know who they are yet, or so Ness assumes, but he can only imagine the pranks he’s planning on playing on the pair of them.   
  


Eventually, Link’s expression softens, a lazy smile rests on his lips, and as Ness finishes telling him of the decorating mishaps in his room, Link chuckles warmly.   
  


“I  _ really _ missed you.”   
  


Ness feels his smile widen into a grin.   
  


“It’s good to have you back, buddy.”

**Author's Note:**

> Like the tags say, this was ALMOST a ship fic. You can really tell how badly I wanted to make them smoomch even a lil at the end, it's almost a perfect set up for it. I was a good Mouse and refrained from it, but I wouldn't be opposed to this rarepair.
> 
> Young Link needs more love, Toon gets most of it. Though I guess it's because I categorise them as different people (young Time as opposed to winds/trains/hourglass??). Also my Nesscas bias was showing and I'm so sorry.
> 
> The doc title is: Young Link is a little shit and Ness loves him for it. (You're welcome)
> 
> Comments are appreciated but Kudo's does just fine too, don't be scared to make a comment on the works you like! <3


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